"Take advantage of the #1 rule of air travel: no matter what time it is, it's always acceptable to drink."
Hector moved the miniature Jack bottle, the amber fluid and black and white label, into the top left corner of the flimsy tray, carefully adjusting it a bottle's width from the left edge and back. The second bottle followed the precise arrangement in the top right corner. The third bottle was on its side. His thumb nail delicately and diligently wiggled under the thin label to pry it off, while preserving the smooth inside surface of the label. A cheap 50 cent, blue ballpoint pen was readily on the tray as well.
"Business or pleasure," he asked turning to the center seat.
A woman in her thirties was sitting there. The black hair was a plain cut without the shine or texture of product. She wore a blue business dress. It modestly covered her knees and dΓ©colletΓ©, except for a little perfunctory round cutout to show a little skin beneath her collarbone without ever getting near sexy. Despite the demure appearance, she had a plain golden necklace that hinted at her carrying about looking nice. There was a light smell of ethyl alcohol from her perfume. Modest, yet giving her the illusion of being nice. He had already spotted the wedding band on her left hand.
"I am returning from giving a talk at a symposium of international genetic apiary biologists. I am looking forward to seeing my family again in Cincinnati. I have two daughters and a sweetheart of a husband." She paused for a moment and touched a big mole on her left hand to think. Her face displayed a decision being made, and she pulled out her iPhone. Her fingers swiped across the screen. "This is them." There was a family photo with a photographer's background of marbled blues. Two young boys stood next to a man with his shirt tucked in and a bowl haircut of thick hair. The man looked straight ahead with a plain face and without sparkle in his eyes. The lips were pressed together with a slight expression of a smile.
"Wonderful family," said Hector without any emotion or conviction. "I'm a sales person for Cisco. I sell Internet routers all over America. I'm seeing someone in a way. We might take things in a romantic direction."
He set the label-free bottle on its side. The tips of his three most dexterous fingers were corking up with tension to spin it. The bottle's scraping sound was muffled by the fan noise of the airplane engines. It stopped pointing at the left bottle. He marked a line on the white inside of the label. Then, he took a tiny sip from the left bottle.
The woman thoughtlessly caressed the mole on her left forearm, as she watched him. Her face displayed that she was appraising the situation. There was something oddly familiar about that very particular way that the woman touched her mole. He felt like he had seen that particular touch a million times, yet had completely forgotten about it. There was even a familiar emotion triggered in his mind. He felt like relaxing into an old t-shirt that had become a close buddy.
"Did you make any sales?" asked the woman.
"The sales cycle for multi-million dollar installations is a 12 to 18 months. So, any particular sales trip is trading a million mundane technical facts that make the deal creep closer to its conclusion. It's not very exciting. Actually, I studied biology in college. That was much more interesting. I simply couldn't find a well-paying job in the field. What did you say again? Apiary biology? We actually had one of the biggest apiary profs. You didn't happen to go to Northwestern, did you?" he replied carelessly babbling.
She gave him a stern and upraising look. He was startled by the unusual reaction to comparing colleges. His gaze was stuck on her eyes and nose. Those actually had a faint resemblance of Pam, his best friend in college. They had been study partners most days of the week. They had their study spot at the back of the Elder dining hall on the North side of campus. Stripping away the motherly look and the dusting of aging, it could totally be Pam. He got excited and let go of his drinking game.
"Yes, I did." She looked at him stern and displeased. "I barely remember and am glad to have left that time behind me."
"Oh, my god," exclaimed Hector, "do you remember Professor Jenkins in biology 101? He always wore suspenders. My class one day showed up everyone wearing suspenders. That day went down in history."
"No, I did biology 101 with Professor Mandarin. Few people know him. He left for Arizona State the next year." Her voice was cold. And she avoided looking at him. He was taking her social cue to drop the conversation. Yet, the excitement didn't let him.
"I'm Hector," he said with a sales man smile and a hand reached out for a firm handshake.
"I'm doctor Jenibelle," she said unhappily with a token handshake. Damn, he needed to know her first name. And the last name would have changed from the marriage. He looked at her again giving her the questioning look to make her burst out, it's me. She didn't react. Maybe, he was wrong. The traces of Pam were faint in that woman's face.
Pam and he had both been introverts. They had stuck together for the last two years in college. They had walked together with their heavy textbooks. She had asked him to teach her chess. He had enjoyed being able to show her. The delight on her face about the rules and tactics of the game had been a delight to him. Aside from a good conversation partner, he had enjoyed staring at her boobs for hours. When her head was down pensively over the chess board, his eyes had relished the skin, roundness, and line in between her boobs with impunity. She had quickly caught up to his level. He had had to keep studying at night in chess books to stay ahead of her one step to keep his winning streak. She had loved a good challenge as inspiration more than the nurturing of being allowed to win every once in a while.